North Cotabato provincial hall’s chief security, companion shot dead

KIDAPAWAN CITY,  North Cotabato – The chief security of the North Cotabato provincial capitol and another man were shot and killed in front of a Catholic church in Arakan town on Sunday.

Chief Insp. Felix Fornan, Arakan town police chief, said Bernabe Abanilla, chief of the Civil Security Unit of North Cotabato’s provincial capitol grounds, had just arrived in front of the church on board his pick-up vehicle with a companion when three gunmen on a motorbike opened fire at about 8 a.m. Sunday.

Abanilla and his companion, identified as Degul Semillano, both residents of Barangay Doruloman in Arakan, were still breathing when churchgoers and villages rushed them to the hospital where they were declared dead due to multiple gunshot wounds in the head and body.

“He was about to enter the church when the suspects on motorbike opened fire,” Fornan, quoting witnesses, said.

Police recovered empty shells from a .45 caliber pistol at the crime scene.

In 2014, Abanilla survived an attack in Kidapawan City. He was inside his vehicle parked in front of a pharmacy when motorcycle-riding men shot him.  SFM